Women's Swimming & Diving

Women's Duo Turn In Solid Marks on Second Day of NCAA Championships

Mar 20, 2009

March 19, 2009

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - MIT men's swimming
and diving sits in eighth place at the mid-point of the 2009 NCAA
Championships following another solid effort in the water that
resulted in both of the evening's relays nabbing All-American
honors.

The Engineers have scored 82 points and are eighth among the 41
teams that have scored at the nation's premier collegiate showcase.
Although the individual events have yet to yield a qualifier for
the championship final, the relays continue to shine.

Opening Thursday's final with an Institute and NEWMAC open
record in the 200 free relay, the Engineers secured eighth overall
with a time of 1:22.01. Jeff Zhou and Luke Cummings
delivered a fabulous start for the Cardinal and Gray, splitting
21.12 and 19.84, respectively, while Laurent
Charpentier and Peter Wellings
closed strong to best a school record that the same quad set during
preliminaries. Kenyon College, who leads in the team standings, set
a national record of 1:19.15 to win the event.

MIT closed the session with another tremendous swim, splitting
3:21.97 to finish seventh in the 400 medley relay. NEWMAC Rookie of
the Year Tim
Stumbaugh ignited the effort with a clip of 51.82 in the back
stroke, while last week&rsquo;s CollegeSwimming.com National
Swimmer of the Week Rastislav Racz
followed with a breast stroke leg of 54.54. Brett Boval completed
the fly circuit in 50.89 and Charpentier anchored in 44.72 as the
Engineers made it 3-for-3 in netting All-American accolades in the
relays.

Individually, the Engineers saw action in three events.
Charpentier just missed on qualifying for finals after finishing
18th during prelims in the 200 free with a school-record time of
1:40.48. Sophomore Michael Dobson
finished just off his career best with a split of 1:42.68.

MIT was busiest in the 100 fly where sophomore Amy Jacobi closed in
58.95, and Boval and Zhou finished in 50.69 and 50.80,
respectively. None of the swimmers made it back for finals,
although freshman star Boval swam to a new personal best.

Also on the card was a strong performance by senior Nicole
O&rsquo;Keeffe and Stumbaugh in the 400 IM. O&rsquo;Keeffe
set a season-best with a time of 4:44.57, while Stumbaugh, who set
an Institute record in the event at the NEWMAC Championships,
finished in 4:07.43.